Headlight Questions

ColoradoDriver

2014 CX-5 Touring AWD - 132k miles
Contributor
:
Denver, CO
So my CX-5 has just the basic halogen headlight bulbs. I noticed that they seem to be dimming a bit, so I am wanting to get them replaced.

I had a chance to drive a car recently that had LED headlights and I have to admit that they were way better.

I know the cost will be more, but is it worthwhile to convert to using LED or Xenon lights instead of the halogen? Better question...can that even be done? I ask because I don't really know anything about headlights.

Thanks.
 
To do it in a way that youre not a jerk blinding everyone else will cost thousands.

Please dont be that guy.
 
What he^^^said. Replace the bulbs with better quality halogens and have the lights aimed by a shop that know what it's doing and you'll get a decent outcome.
 
Back when I had my 99 Honda Accord, I bought a projector retrofit kit and HID kit from theretrofitsource and did my own retrofit. The Accord came with halogen bulbs in halogen housings, which is why I had to retrofit the projectors (instead of just upgrading bulbs). Typically a projector housing like yours is much less likely to blind an oncoming driver, but it can still happen if the lights are misaligned or if the bulbs are too bright/powerful for the housing.

The whole process of retrofitting is extensive, but not as expensive as you might think. With that said, if you don't have the tools, or the space, or if you just don't want to do it yourself, it can most definitely cost $$$. For the sake of ease, just replace the bulbs with a good quality halogen bulb.


This retrofit only cost me ~$200 in parts.

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Back when I had my 99 Honda Accord, I bought a projector retrofit kit and HID kit from theretrofitsource and did my own retrofit. The Accord came with halogen bulbs in halogen housings, which is why I had to retrofit the projectors (instead of just upgrading bulbs). Typically a projector housing like yours is much less likely to blind an oncoming driver, but it can still happen if the lights are misaligned or if the bulbs are too bright/powerful for the housing.

The whole process of retrofitting is extensive, but not as expensive as you might think. With that said, if you don't have the tools, or the space, or if you just don't want to do it yourself, it can most definitely cost $$$. For the sake of ease, just replace the bulbs with a good quality halogen bulb.


This retrofit only cost me ~$200 in parts.

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Interesting. Thank you for the input. I'll just keep with some good quality halogen then.

Thanks.
 
You could try a VLED

http://www.vleds.com/shop-application/application-low-beam/h11-h8-h9.html

They do have a 30 day MBG

If for some reason you are not satisfied with the Micro LED headlight system within our 30 day return window, just create an RMA and we will email you a prepaid shipping label. You will receive a full refund (less the original shipping charge) if the LIKE NEW kit is returned for any of the following reasons:

* Did not fit* due to an obstruction on the vehicle

* Output beam pattern was not up to expectations

* Appearance or quality not up to standards
 
You have projector headlights. You won't blind on coming traffic with LEDs. Just focus the headlights after installing them to the same level as current halogens. Taken markings on a wall of before. Ive used LASFIT from Amazon with Phillips chips on many cars. 6k is a good color. You can. Rotate the beam to get a nice pattern.
 
Based on what I see in practice on the road Id beg to differ. LED is very directional and behaves differently than a halogen. Also in order to last it has to be properly heat sinked. You cant just throw an LED into an enclosure designed for a halogen and get good results. Also shining at a wall thats only a few feet away? That wont tell you if youre causing glare to oncoming traffic.

Even a lot of OEM setups cause bad glare which is why IIHS rates this now. And if youre aftermarket setup was only a couple hundred bucks I guarantee the quality isnt as good as OEM and minimal R&D was done.

I say again doing lighting properly is very expensive.
 
Based on what I see in practice on the road I*d beg to differ. LED is very directional and behaves differently than a halogen. Also in order to last it has to be properly heat sinked. You can*t just throw an LED into an enclosure designed for a halogen and get good results. Also shining at a wall that*s only a few feet away? That won*t tell you if you*re causing glare to oncoming traffic.

Agree on LED, some people have had success with LED headlights on their OEM projector housings, but it depends a lot on the directions the LED chips are facing. racermp, could you elaborate on "rotating the beam"? I've never heard of an LED bulb with an adjustable fixture.

The instructions for re-aiming headlights is usually found in the owner's manual and should only require a screwdriver.

And if your aftermarket setup was only a couple hundred bucks I guarantee the quality isn*t as good as OEM and minimal R&D was done.

I say again doing lighting properly is very expensive.

Wrong on all 3 counts bud (at least, in my experience). I knew I would get challenged on this, but I don't have the cutoff/install pictures on my phone or my work PC. I'll see if I can find them on the forums I used to frequent.

For the record, this setup was OEM headlights blackhoused and retrofitted with Morimoto H1 Bi-Xenon projectors (with some no-name HID kit and 5000k bulbs). Keep in mind that this was back in 2010, when TRS was still pretty new. They have since built up a reputation and are able to charge a bit more based on that reputation. The parts I bought were the projectors and the bulbs. I had purchased the HID conversion kit prior to the retrofit, and paid something like $100 for it new.
 
Were probably going to have to agree to disagree. And HID is also much different than LED. Most Ive seen with the cheap LED stuff is it dims or burns out quickly. I suspect its not heat sinked properly and/or just bad LEDs.
 
We*re probably going to have to agree to disagree. And HID is also much different than LED. Most I*ve seen with the cheap LED stuff is it dims or burns out quickly. I suspect it*s not heat sinked properly and/or just bad LEDs.

I'm ok with that. The point that I was trying to make is that it is possible to get good quality without spending thousands, but you have to do a lot of the work yourself.

I found the post that details my install, but it seems that I deleted the pictures from my flickr account so none of the image links work. https://www.6thgenaccord.com/forums/posts/631175/


Also it seems I was wrong on what I paid (forgive me, my memory has always been s*** lol). I ordered the following from TRS in 2010 for $300 shipped:

Morimoto H1s w/ mini-gatling shrouds
Morimoto 35w ballasts
Morimoto 5000k H1 HID bulbs
9006 wiring harness w/ high beam taps


Here's a couple of example photos from someone with the same car and setup:

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So would that be better to look at than LEDs? Or same issue.

I'd say the output would be more "predictable", as in you should be able to expect a similar cutoff as your halogen set up (though this is still up in the air as I don't know for sure). Meaning yes, they would be better to look at than LEDs in your case.

Still, the easiest (and probably the most practical) solution would be to buy a new set of good quality halogen bulbs, with a colour temperature of 4300k to 5000k.
 
So would that be better to look at than LEDs? Or same issue.

I would say yes as the way the light is emitted is at least similar. LED is directional and needs heat management.

But like others have said your best bet is quality bulbs and making sure theyre aimed correctly.
 
So would that be better to look at than LEDs? Or same issue.
I personally would just get better name-brand (Philip、Osram) brighter halogen bulbs to improve the vision of night time.

2014 CX-5 Low-beam H11 Bulbs

2014 CX-5 High-beam HB3/9005 Bulbs

Be aware that the brighter the halogen bulb is, the shorter the service life will be. The improvement is not very significant and can't compare to HID anc LED headlights.

HID is good but the major problem for me is it starts slow and will take time to get to the full brightness. And it isn't much more reliable than halogen as the factory HID on my 2000 BMW 528i started having problems with only 50K miles and the expensive HID bulbs needed to be replaced. The ballast for HID is also prone to fail.

The best is to get the best lighting available from factory and that's why I had to special-order our 2000 BMW as most people at the time didn't know the benefit of the HID and dealers wouldn't want to order any vehicles with HID option for their inventory.
 
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